The Most Innocent Kiss
by therealesther
Summary: Just a kiss, the most innocent kind. But what will it mean for the future? NarutoTsunade...Oneshot, thinking back to kiss in episode 90 and 91. don't flame me for controversial pairing please! I don't own Naruto ONESHOT NO LONGER!
1. Default Chapter

12/11/04

NaruTsunade?

The most innocent kiss

It was the most innocent of situations; the most innocent of kisses imaginable. Over the preceding days, she had begun to know him; to understand his motivations and dreams, and to respect them. So, when he had once again challenged her to a fight, she had accepted with a feeling of rising affection and warmth that she could not prevent. Strangely enough, she found that she didn't _want_ to prevent it.

This was strange indeed, as for the last few decades, she had been bent on closing herself off, refusing to let anyone draw near, afraid of irritating the still raw wounds in her heart. But this boy, this child, had slipped in so easily, so quickly, that she had no time to even sense it, let alone stop it. And now she could not have removed him from her heart even if she had tried.

So by that time, of course she had had not the slightest intention of hurting him. Maybe just teaching him a lesson. But after skilfully flipping off his forehead protector, suddenly that vague idea was replaced with a very different, clear, precise idea that had seemed good at the time.

It was a prime opportunity. He stood before her, eyes scrunched shut, fists clenched and body shaking, waiting for the mother of all forehead flicks. But his face was lifted, ready, and she saw with a rush of approval that he was not attempting to flee or avoid his just punishment.

_That is his spirit, the spirit of a Hokage..._

She leaned down. He was so short. She leaned forward and, cupping his chin in her hand, pressed her lips firmly to his bare forehead.

Completely innocent.

A motherly gesture.

So why did the blood rush to her cheeks and her voice box seem to constrict as she spoke to him, his impossibly blue eyes gazing up at her, round as saucers. Perhaps it was the fact that she was not a mother, and never had been, and was therefore unused to such displays of affection.

She had to admit she had been nervous. After all, what kind of behaviour would one normally expect from a boy in reaction to such an embarrassing display, particularly in front of her assistant and his perverted trainer? After she had spoken to him, encouraging him to become a good man however, his stunned look had been replaced with a huge grin. The relief she had felt had been surprising, and a little amusing. To be so afraid of the opinion of a twelve year old boy she had only met a few days before? How immature.

How much more immature then, to now feel that same peculiar nervousness each time she was forced to summon him to her office for official business? He was, after all, an elite jounin of Konoha, her subordinate, who she _had_ to meet and see almost everyday. There was nothing strange about it.

Except that she never felt nervous with any of her other shinobi, a kind of stomach twisting, knee-weakening anxiety, that made her glad for her supporting chair and the large desk that served to shield her from him.

Without warning, the office door flew open, and he was there, his muscular, 24 year old frame filling most of the doorway. His spiky blond hair brushed the top of the lintel as he entered the room, grinning.

"Tsunade no baa-chan! Long time no see! That is, since two days ago."

He flung himself into the chair in front of her desk and casually put his sandalled feet up on the polished desk.

"Can I get you a coaster for those?" the Fifth Hokage asked sarcastically, eyebrow quirking as she looked down at him.

Naruto merely continued to grin at her. The whole village knew that where the blonde jounin was concerned, the Hokage was putty. She let him get away with almost anything. Having the affection and attention of a mother-figure had been so new to Naruto, he had lapped it up with glee and now thrived on it.

He caught hold of her hands in both of his and pulled her towards him.

"Come on, old hag, I've just come back from a dangerous mission and now you're being so cold? Where's the love?" he looked up at her with puppy dog eyes.

She pulled her hands free, and, ignoring him, walked to her desk and picked up a large, plain brown envelope.

"Your next mission," she said tersely, tossing it to him. He caught it without looking and, ripping it open, quickly skimmed the few relevant lines it contained.

His brow furrowed. Her heart thumped harder and she turned away to look out the window, unable to bear watching him. At last he whistled softly and his voice was sober.

"This one's gonna be fun, two S-class criminals eh? Last seen in Stone Country, abilities unknown, possible connections with Yakushi Kabuto...boy, you sure can pick 'em obaa-chan," he said, the affectionate nickname slipping naturally from his tongue.

She still did not turn around. Her shoulders were tensed, her hands gripping the windowsill so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. It was an exceedingly dangerous mission, there was no doubt about that; but he had completed many dangerous missions safely. So what was this sudden mad urge to turn and beg him not to go?

Simply that. A mad urge. Not to be taken seriously. Not at all.

Suddenly, he was beside her. She wondered briefly when he had become so stealthy, when coherent thought was suspended by the sensation of his powerful arms wound around her shoulders, pulling her against him, into his side. She could feel his slow, steady heartbeat beneath her ear.

"Don't cry, Tsunade no baa-chan," he said softly. She was shocked; she hadn't even noticed the tears running down her face.

"I'll come back, don't worry. If I'm going to be the next Hokage, I can't die on some

mission. I'll definitely come back."

Her sobs quieten against his chest, and she wonders, as she has countless times before, when was the moment when he stopped being that boisterous, slightly infuriating yet loveable child and grew into the most precious, the most loved, the only, man in her life?

Cupping her chin in one hand, he tilts her face up gently and presses his warm lips to her forehead. She literally forgets to breathe.

"See you when I get back, granny." He whispers cheekily in her ear then leaves the room, noisily slamming the door behind him.

She stands still and looks out the window. The Hokage is blushing as she did twelve years ago, her stomach seems filled with butterflies, her knees feel like jelly. How immature she is, how foolish, how utterly, utterly _stupid_.

It was only a kiss. A kiss from a young man to a woman who he sees as the mother, the aunty, the grandmother he never had.

The most innocent of kisses.


	2. Innocent Kisses

_AN: And here we have another continuation of a previously popular one shot...I'm awful aren't I? Sorry for the title...but please enjoy..._

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...but you still love me right? XD

**Innocent Kisses **

It had been all over the village, everyone had known it.

Uzumaki Naruto was dead.

He had been killed on his latest mission, an S-class as usual, one that had, in the end, proved just too much for Konoha's unruliest and most determined jounin.

At the time, it had been difficult to believe; Naruto? Dead? Impossible!

He was a titan, with stamina unrivalled and a constant stream of tricks and unexpected jutsus up his sleeve. He was the shinobi who, just when you were sure he was down and defeated, would find some hidden resource of strength, some insight into his opponent's heart (for few were truly his enemies), and end up coming out on top.

It had been a fact of life to the citizens of Konoha; Uzumaki Naruto could not die; and finally, after years of rejection and open hostility from them, no one actually wanted him to.

It was only when the news of his death had come, that people realized how badly they would miss the sight of his smiling face; his glowing health and sparkling blue eyes a cheerful mockery of the Hokage's deadly pendant which had always swung from his neck.

It was this necklace that had been the proof, dangling limply from Hyuuga Neji's shaking fingers, that had convinced the Fifth Hokage that the Kyuubi container was really gone. The other members of the retrieval squad sent to find Naruto had been amazed at the composure of the Fifth when she received the news and the proof, merely thanking them for their report and dismissing them without a word as to the arrangements for Naruto's funeral.

A funeral with a difference, considering that they had not been able to recover, or even find a body, amid the wreckage of the fishing village where the blonde's last battle had been fought. At least his mission had been completed, though at the cost of his own life. Two more S-class criminals had had their first and last taste of the formidable Rasengan.

And as soon as the retrieval squad had filed out of her office, faces contorted with grief for their friend, Tsunade had broken down and wept.

The mischievous shrimpy genin had given her back her hunger for life, the determined, cheeky chuunin had given her hope for Konoha's future, and the reckless, indomitable jounin had quite unwittingly, unintentionally, stolen her heart. Even before he had held her in his arms and dried her sudden tears on his departure, Tsunade had become aware of how precious Uzumaki Naruto had become to her.

And now she had lost him.

For six weeks, she thought she had lost him.

And then, on the first day of the seventh week, without any warning, Uzumaki Naruto came back. Filthy, weaponless, half the clothes ripped off his broad back, and his blond hair tangled and brown with dirt, but with his battered forehead protector securely tied and no limbs missing, he appeared at the gates of the village.

Five minutes later he was in the Hokage's office, wearing a triumphant grin that Tsunade had to restrain herself from slapping, then perhaps kissing ferociously.

And, as if he had only seen her yesterday, Naruto flung himself into the chair in front of her desk and propped his feet up on the polished wood surface.

"Tsunade no baaaaa-chan! Long time no see!" At the sound of the familiar nickname, the deep voice dragging out the syllables, she had to fight to the keep the rush of blood from showing in her pale cheeks.

"Would you like me to put a cloth down?" she asked sarcastically, hiding her thumping heart. "We wouldn't want the desk getting your feet dirty."

The blond grinned impudently up at her, and, catching hold of both her hands, pulled her to him.

"Hey hey hey, granny, I've been away for so long, doing dangerous missions, saving the world, where's the love?" He gazed at her with puppy dog eyes.

This was the moment, the moment when she had pulled away that other time, pulled away before she did something that he would not be able to forgive, something that she would most likely regret.

But now she could not pull away. She could not stop herself. And so she leaned down towards him, past his forehead, ignoring his sharply indrawn breath as she hovered, inches from his lips.

The door to her office flew open, and what seemed like half of Konoha stood in the doorway. Naruto, releasing the Hokage's hands, turned around to face the crowd of open-mouthed shinobi and grinned.

"Hi guys, miss me?"

Pandemonium broke loose and Tsunade stepped back as the blond was submerged in embraces and handshakes and demands as to 'what the hell the dobe had been _doing_ all this time?'

The Hokage stood silent and forgotten, the sensation of his warm breath on her lips still lingering. She had to hold herself steady, her mind repeating like a mantra over and over, _It's better this way It's better this way I don't really want him to know Don't want him to know It'd ruin everything Never be the same again…_

No matter if she wanted things to be different, if to change everything would make her happy. She couldn't think like that, _wouldn't_, not now, in front of all these fresh-faced young shinobi celebrating the return of their comrade.

Not now, when a shy, stuttering kunoichi with big pearly eyes had finally found the courage to cling to Naruto as if she never intended to let him go.

Tsunade turned her face away. A sparkle in the window caught her attention. It was her pendant, that Neji had brought back as evidence of Naruto's demise and she had hung it up, to glisten in the sun.

She took it down now and turned back to the crowd.

"Here brat, you forgot about this. You should really stop leaving valuables lying around like that."

His face lit up, her stomach twisted as she extended a hand toward him, the chain dangling from her fingers. But he shook his head, grinning cheekily.

_Only six weeks he was gone, less than the time taken for most missions. Just six weeks I thought he was dead. Kami, how I've missed that smile._

"I'm not taking it like that." He rose from the chair and took a few steps forward, until she could feel the heat radiating from his body.

"You have to put it on me." His eyes gleamed down at her. "Old hag. I'm a bit taller than the last time you did this, right?"

There were chuckles at the blond's audacity in teasing the Hokage. Only Naruto could get away with this, as they all knew.

She frowned up at him, trying to look exasperated, as she stepped towards him, arms stretching, reaching up to clasp the chain about his neck. Tsunade leaned forward, straining. The top of her blonde head barely reached his shoulder.

Just as the clasp of the chain linked together, Naruto's arms suddenly enveloped the Hokage, pulling her against him, her arms settling around his neck as if they belonged there.

_Breathe._

_Just breathe._

She could not stop the pounding of her heart, or the blood that rushed to her cheeks at the contact. When had she last been held like this, by a man? Dan had always been so shy, so reserved about his feelings for her, while Jiraiya had ended up with a bloody nose at the first attempt.

A low chuckle broke through her shock. She looked up into his face, the strong, angular features accented by the whisker-like scars carved into his bronzed skin.

_Breathe._

_Just breathe!_

And then, while she stared up at him, hazel eyes wide, he leaned down as he had before leaving on this mission, almost seven weeks ago, a lifetime ago.

She froze, and warm lips brushed her forehead, settling lightly for a moment, branding her, then drew back.

That low chuckle again.

"Thanks Tsunade no baa-chan. I won't be losing this again."

The arms slid away, the warm body retreated.

"Come on guys! Who's buying me ramen? See ya later, granny!"

He was gone.

The office became silent, settled. The Hokage stood calmly for a few minutes, then, returning to her desk, sat down and continued her paperwork.

But her face burned red and her stomach was filled with butterflies, and she could not keep the smile from her face as the bittersweet happiness flooded over her.

_He's alive. He's alive. He's alive._

She can never have him, but she can accept that. She can be content to be one of his precious people instead, and enjoy the innocent kisses.

_AN:Hey hey, I'd like to write a heartfelt apology for my lack of updating on "Shikamaru plus Glasses Equals", but that would be a waste of time, and you wouldn't believe me anyway...but here's the snag - i have chapter 9 finished and chapter 10 in the works, but chapter 8 is being a real...er, it's just not happening...maybe it's due to the CRAPPINESS of the naruto anime at the moment...omgness what are they thinking and WHERE IS MY KAKASHI GAIDEN? 'Til next time, my beloved readers..._


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